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Will Grigg makes Northern Ireland's final Euro 2016 squad

Will Grigg's place in Northern Ireland's 23-man Euro 2016 squad has been confirmed, but Liam Boyce, Billy McKay, Daniel Lafferty, Michael Smith and Ben Reeves have all been left out by manager Michael O'Neill.

The announcement for the country's first finals squad in 30 years was made at the Titanic Belfast museum on Saturday lunchtime, though the unlucky quintet were informed of their fate earlier this week and missed Friday's 3-0 victory over Belarus despite being named in the 28-player group for that game.

Grigg, whose 25 goals fired Wigan to the League One title, opened his international account in that triumph and has earned the nod over Wigan teammate McKay and Boyce, despite the latter scoring 20 times for Ross County last term.

Lee Hodson has been preferred to one-cap right-back Smith while fellow full-back Lafferty and midfielder Reeves have suffered after not featuring regularly for their Championship clubs.

QPR's Conor Washington has been included having scored twice in his three caps to date while Aaron Hughes, 36, will arrive in France with a century of international appearances should he feature in Slovakia next week.

Northern Ireland Euro 2016 squad

Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Michael McGovern, Alan Mannus

Defenders: Jonny Evans, Gareth McAuley, Craig Cathcart, Conor McLaughlin, Shane Ferguson, Lee Hodson, Luke McCullough, Aaron Hughes

Midfielders: Stuart Dallas, Chris Baird, Jamie Ward, Steven Davis, Oliver Norwood, Corry Evans, Niall McGinn, Paddy McNair

Forwards: Kyle Lafferty, Conor Washington, Josh Magennis, Will Grigg

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